“Not that I don’t want to do this, because I definitely do. Just, you know, this table is kind of cold, and the kittens are watching, and… Gosh, you’re sexy.”
He laughed. “So are you. But I take your point.” He stepped back.
She slid off the table with some reluctance. “But we could, like, take this to my place after your shift is over. I live right upstairs.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Convenient.”
“Yeah. Uh, when does Olivia come in again?”
“Not for another four hours.”
“Is there a sofa we can make out on or something?”
He laughed and looked in on the kittens. “Maybe. This seems very out of character for you.”
“Hey, I can be sexy and spontaneous. And these are unusual circumstances. It’s like, thank-god-we’re-alive sex. Except in this case, thank god the kittens are alive.”
“So, just to be clear on your intentions, if I come with you back to your apartment, you intend to jump me.”
She grinned. “Yes, that’s accurate.”
His grin mirrored hers. “I will take your offer under advisement. In the meantime, it’s probably about time for these little fur balls to eat again. Want to help me?”
“Absolutely. I’m on it.”
***
Rather than making out on the sofa in Olivia’s office, Lauren fell asleep there. Caleb bustled around the office, trying to keep himself busy, periodically looking in on the kittens. The longer Lauren slept, the less hope Caleb had that they’d end up in her bed. Probably she’d remember that they didn’t much like each other. That he thought she was flighty and she thought he was cold.
Although there’d been nothing cold about the kisses they’d exchanged at three in the morning. Caleb had been about to rip their clothes off to show how hot they could be when she’d put the brakes on. Which was probably for the best. What had he even been thinking? Lauren was hot, yes, but she was bossy and ridiculous. Still, she’d been so worried about those kittens, and then relieved when the little one was okay, and then she’d had her hands on him, and, well, there was only so much resistance he could put up.
Olivia arrived precisely on time at six, and Caleb explained the situation with the kittens. They looked in on the kittens together. All five seemed to be doing just fine, mewling and playing with each other. Caleb carried the box to the back room, where Olivia got them set up in a kennel.
“I can take it from here,” she said. “Not the first litter Lauren has brought us from the feral rescue organization, but I haven’t seen kittens this young in a while. But we can put them on a regular feeding schedule and get the techs to help out. I’ll ask Rachel to put up flyers saying we’ve got kittens up for adoption in a few weeks.”
“Thank you. I’m sure Lauren will appreciate it.”
“She spend the night here fretting about these guys? Is that why she’s asleep in my office?”
Caleb’s pulse sped up a little. Obviously, he couldn’t say that she was here, biding her time until they could go up to her apartment. “Yeah, she wouldn’t leave.”
Olivia nodded. “That seems right.”
“Yeah, she’s kind of a pest that way.”
Olivia laughed. “Like I said, not the first time. About six months ago, she brought in a feral that had been badly injured in a fight, and she wouldn’t leave until after the poor cat got out of surgery.”
“Was the cat okay?”
“Yeah, he lived. We patched him up and found him a nice home in a controlled feral colony upstate.”
Caleb nodded. Some feral cats would never make good pets because they were too wild and likely to claw or bite people. Caleb assumed Olivia was referring to the old, abandoned army fort upstate that had been converted into an isolated location for feral cats to live. Scientists studied the colony there to learn more about feline behavior.
“I’ll just go wake her up then,” Caleb said.
“All right. I’ll give these little guys some food.”
Caleb gave each of the kittens a little scratch behind the ears. Then he walked back down the hall to Olivia’s office. Lauren was curled up on the couch there, snoring softly. Caleb hated to wake her, but he couldn’t just leave her here all day. He knelt beside the sofa and gently nudged her shoulder.
